Album Review: Cool Nutz

The Cook-Up (Free Download at raphater.com)

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[RAP TO THE FUTURE] With each new release, veteran
Portland MC Cool Nutz believes he is completely reinventing himself.
He’s only partly right. The Cook-Up indeed represents a change in
direction for Nutz on the musical front: By taking on young local
producers like G_Force, Tope and Lawz Spoken and extending a hand to
fresh-faced MCs, Nutz is staking a clear claim in the Rose City’s future
and embracing a soulful new sound.

But what remains
intact on this, his first foray into the free download album, is Nutz’s
signature halting, impressionistic flow. That’s evident from the first
bars of the opening title track, where Nutz talks drugs and money while
embracing the semi-abstract, free-association rhymes that make his voice
recognizable (“Cop work, get money and the swag nice/ Talk birds, talk
guap and it’s real life”). And when Nutz trades bars with Mikey Vegaz on
“Superman,” or with Illmaculate and OnlyOne on “Killin,” his
clear-throated, familiar flow is only underscored by way of
juxtaposition with breathy young rappers that came up in the Kanye era.

None of which is to suggest that Nutz gets outmatched by his collaborators. If anything, The Cook-Up
proves just how adaptable Nutz’s diamond-sharp grocery list assaults
are to all kinds of production, from DJ Quik’s boom-bap/classical fusion
on “The Good Life” to Tope’s psychedelic soul on “Black Music.” It’s
hard to age well in hip-hop, but Nutz has survived multiple eras by
packing a few prized possessions in his toolkit and walking away from
the rest while it burns to the ground—a skill duly demonstrated on
smart, soulful closer “The Greatest.” As much as Nutz wants to believe
he has evolved into a new species altogether, he should be proud of
growing by leaps and bounds as an MC within his unique rap blueprint.
One wouldn’t ask Slick Rick to start rapping like Gucci Man, and by the
same token, it’s time Portland appreciated Cool Nutz for being a true
original.

SEE IT: Cool Nutz’s The Cook-Up comes out
Tuesday, Aug. 2, as a free download at raphater.com.